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April 15, 2011

IT'S FRIDAY, MY FAVORITE DAY!!

It's going to be kind of a crazy weekend, so the next update may not come until later Friday or even possible on Saturday. Keep checking back!

Well, it is still raining and hailing and the wind is blowing. It is getting to the point where once the sun does make an appearance we all stop what we are doing and lift our eyes towards the heavens and gaze in astonishment at the bright light from above. It is just getting ridiculous how the weather is affecting everybody and how we plan our lives around it. The weatherman has PROMISED a few nice "dry" days next week. I sure hope he doesn't disappoint me because I have a lot of weeding to do.

Ah, Spring time, it brings me hope - I welcomed the first Goldfinch to my feeders this week. I also noticed that there was a herd of about 50 elk grazing on the spring grass on the island. The cows should be about ready to give birth to their babies and it will be fun to watch them romp around.

Last weekend, we stayed in town to celebrate two granddaughter's birthdays. We drove down to Keizer on Saturday afternoon to watch Paige and Ashtin play their soccer game. They are on the same team this year which is the youth 11 and under. It is a little challenging for Paige who just turned 9, but she is getting a lot of experience. The game that night was painful to watch as they lost 5 to 0. I questioned why the coach put Ashtin in as goalie the first half. She is a much better defender and at the half when the score what 4-0, he decided to switch goalies. Good move coach, but it didn't help them remove the deficit. Also, I might add, the girls on the other team were twice as big and seemed more experienced. Oh well, the girls had to play again on Sunday and they won both of those games. After Saturday's game, we all met at Round Table Pizza for a birthday party.

On Sunday, we had to drive in to pick up our new computer at the repair shop. I swear we have been living at that place. We discovered another virus on Friday night and had to take it in Saturday. It seems when the repairman switched all our stuff to the new computer, he inadvertently overlooked an infected file and it nailed us! Finally, after picking up the machine, we were ready to party some more, this time in West Linn for Paige and Jadyn. Leslie and Jason drove in with the girls after their soccer double header that morning. The birthday girls got to open even MORE gifts. We had a luncheon and more birthday cake. It was a fun time and after the party, Dave and I drove back to the coast to re-cooperate.

The Blazer regular season is over and they made it to the sixth spot in the Playoffs. That's good for us because it is a few more dollars than we normally budget for. They will start the playoffs with the Dallas Mavericks, playing two games there and then back to Portland for two games and if nobody has won the series by then, they will alternate back and forth until someone wins four games. The series starts this weekend in Dallas and we'll play games three and four on Thursday and Saturday. Even though they don't have as good a record as Dallas, we're hoping they can win this series. As I said, we get paid by the game and getting a few extra dollars at this time of year is real nice...especially since it looks like next season may not happen because of a strike or lockout. I told Dave that if there is some kind of work stoppage next fall, we should take advantage of that and travel when we have the opportunity. He doesn't think we'd be able to afford to travel...but I'm looking at the big picture here!

We got a call from the car insurance company the other day after we got an estimate on the damages to the Jeep's front fender. They are sending a check for the repairs and we should have it all fixed up as soon as the parts arrive. Wow, I was amazed at the repair bill. It was just a scrape, not even what you could call a fender bender and still - the bill came to over $900. I can't believe that it costs that much and it is no wonder our insurance rates are so high!

We went to see a play at the Coaster Theater on Thursday night. The girls and their families had gotten us three season tickets as a Christmas gift and so this will be the first of three plays that we will see on them. The play, "Rough Crossing" is a comedy satire and takes place on a cruise ship. We saw it years ago in Ashland and thought it was funny.

We are headed for Seattle this afternoon to attend the NW Steam Society board meeting on Saturday. We are spending the night with our friends the Kane's who live on Bainbridge Island. Tom and Dave will be attending the meeting together and then afterwards we will drive back home. It is too long a trip for Dave to make back and forth in one day. The last time he did it he had a stroke! Besides, it will be fun to get away and catch up with the latest from our friends.